


To Have Hope

by Dawnfire11



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Child Neglect, David Acting as Max's (Camp Camp) Parental Figure, Gen, PTSD, Platonic David & Max (Camp Camp), Triggers, dadvid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 15:55:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19833508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawnfire11/pseuds/Dawnfire11
Summary: Another trash Dadvid fanfiction dealing with the difficulties of removing a child from an abusive situation.





	1. Expired Green Beans and a Phone Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and David are finally back home from camp. Each has their own demons to face as they begin life in the city once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I know there are a million and one fanfictions just like this one out there. But I wanted to do my own take on Dadvid. 
> 
> Often times, people do not realize how difficult the process of getting out of an abusive home can be. One of my qualms with Dadvid fanfictions is the skipping of all of the legal ramifications of removing a child from an abusive home. My goal as an educator is to shine the light on this process, showing you a little sliver of how dealing with CPS can be. 
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments and feel free to follow this fanfiction for more! This is going to be a wild ride!
> 
> WARNINGS: Child abuse, PTSD and more difficult topics are discussed in this fanfiction. If you struggle with these topics, please take caution.

Camp was over.

Camp was over and Max would never admit that he actually missed it. Sure, it was dreary and boring, but he had friends there. People who would pay attention to him there. People who would actually feed him there, no matter how gross the food was.

Now, Max sat alone in his double wide, eyes scanning over the empty pantry in front of him. There was a single can of green beans that had expired two years ago as well as half a piece of moldy bread in a clear plastic ziplock. He grabbed the can of green beans and sat on the kitchen floor, sure to avoid the little puddle of brown liquid on the tile by the fridge. He didn't have a can opener so he used a knife, stabbing at the edges of the can until there was a satisfactory pop of the seal breaking. 

Two years expired green beans was better than nothing, he thought to himself as he sat on the floor with his knife clutched in his left hand.

Max missed camp, now more than ever. 

Not for the first time that day, he wondered if he should call David, remembering what the camp counselor had told him at the end of the summer. 

_"If you ever need me, just give me a call," he said, passing over the little sticky note with a phone number hastily scrawled over the yellow paper. The three at the end of the number was smudged, pencil blurring to make the number look hazy and unreal._

No. He wouldn't call. No matter how desperate he had become, he wouldn't drop to that pathetic level. Besides, he had tried to tell David on the last day, had tried to...

Max shook the thoughts away, finishing mutilating the can instead. Now that it was open, he couldn't find a fork, so he just used his fingers to pick the green beans one by one out of the sickly green liquid and place them precariously on his tongue. 

They were slimy. They were cold. But they were delicious. 

He was so tired and so, so hungry. 

It was at that moment that the front door clicked open. There was no warning, no twist of a lock, nothing to tell him to get his ass off the floor and run to his room before his dad was in the room, his bulk towering over Max on the floor. 

Initially, he was not a scary looking man. Max's father was just very, very large, his fat rolling across his stomach like waves, his head towering feet above the normal man. His brown hair was thinning over his deep brown skin, and his jaw was set in constant tension. 

Not scary. Just terrifying. 

"What are you doing?" the man snarled, looking across the floor, eyes sweeping like that of a prowling cat. 

It was more of an accusation than a question, Max automatically shrinking away from the words without realizing that he was doing it. 

"I was hungry..." he mumbled, looking down at the can in his hands. 

It always happened in an instant. 

This time, it was a foot, delivering a swift kick to his side. The can of green beens rolled out of his hands, the liquid spilling onto the floor and mixing with the preexisting brown puddle. They were ruined now, for sure. He almost cried out, teeth biting his tongue in the last second to keep the sound from escaping his lips. 

A tear dripped down his nose without warning. He wanted to wipe it away, wanted to apologize, wanted to do anything to make any of this better. 

But he couldn't. 

There was nothing that would end this. 

This was just how his life would be. 

* * *

David was sitting on his balcony back in the city, his eyes sweeping across the bustling streets below. It was almost midnight now, yet the city never slept. Cars honked loudly at one another as they passed by. The lights from the nearby liquor store flickered ominously. 

He missed camp more than anything at moments like these. The city was too loud, too busy for someone like him to be able to sit down and relax. This constant awake-feeling just didn't suit him. 

He looked down at his phone, mind wondering to each of his campers, who would have been at home for a week now. How were they doing, adjusting to the city life again, he wondered. Were they happily sitting at home with their internet and their video games once more? Did they ever think of him after camp was over? 

They all had lives, things to get back to. Here, David was alone, just him against the world. 

He should really adopt a cat or something, David thought to himself with a chuckle.

That would surely give him more of a purpose, something to look forwards to after his long days working a job he hated more than anything. 

God, how he missed camp. 

It was then that his phone started ringing, miraculously, as if his lonely thoughts summoned the person on the opposite end of the line. He picked it up without hesitation, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. 

"Hello?" the voice was oddly familiar, though stuffier and thicker than what David was used to hearing. He sucked in a breath when he finally recognized the boy on the other end of the line. 

"Max?" 


	2. A Stolen Flip Phone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max speaks to David. David becomes worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't stop myself from writing this. Please send comments to let me know what you think!

"Max?" 

As soon as he heard David's voice, he regretted making the call. But it was too late now. He had already stolen his dad's flip phone from the adjacent room and shakily dialed the number into the device. 

"Oh shit," he stammered. "I musta dialed you by mistake..." 

"Max, don't give me that," David responds. "How are you doing? What's going on? I miss you! Tell me..." 

David continued to ramble for a few minutes, but there was something different about his voice, something duller and softer about the edges of his excitement. He didn't seem to be as cheery or annoying as usual. 

"Shut up, David, everything is fine," Max interrupted finally. "I just wanted to say... shit." 

He had no good excuse for the phone call. He ran one hand over his face, realizing how stupid this whole situation had been. If only he hadn't got caught stealing the green beans in the first place, none of this would have happened. 

And yet, here he was sitting alone in his room on the phone with someone he couldn't hate, no matter how much he tried to. 

"What's wrong?" David asked. His voice had gone soft, and hearing the gentle tone brought tears to the back of Max's eyes. He tried to clear the lump out of his throat without making any noise, and ended up going into a minor coughing fit, unable to catch his breath for several seconds. Thankfully, David was silent during this encounter. 

"I just wanted to say hello, that's all," Max said finally, once he could take a full breath again. "Is there any law against me saying hi?"

David didn't answer, and suddenly, Max wondered if there was a law against this. Should David have given out his personal number to a camper? His heart beat rapidly in his chest. Camp meant the world to David. What if this simple phone call was a bigger risk than David let on?

But before he could ask, David was speaking again. 

"Tell me what's going on, Max." 

"Nothing really... I'm alone in the house for the night again," Max said, leaning back against his headboard and folding his legs up to his chest, closing his eyes. 

"Do your parents leave you alone a lot of the time?" David asked and Max flinched. 

This phone call was such a bad idea. 

"Sometimes," Max said. "But it's no big deal, I'm not a baby, David! I can take care of myself!"

Could he though? There was no food in the house and he didn't have a drivers license, a car or money to go out and buy some.

"Max, I'm here to help you," David said calmly, and his patience sent a spike of guilt into Max's chest.

"I... I know, David. Sorry. I was just bored and lonely and hungry and so I decided to call someone," Max said. "Sorry to waste your time."

"No, no, this isn't a waste of my time, Max," David said quickly, frantically. "What's wrong?" 

Max froze for a split second, thinking. He could spill everything. He could tell David about the neglect, about the hitting, about the drugs and the alcohol, about everything. But he couldn't. He had sworn, had told himself no matter how bad it got, he had to keep it to himself. He couldn't burden someone so annoyingly happy as David with his depressing problems. 

So, he took a shuddering breath and spoke into the phone, saying what was expected of him. Nothing was wrong. 

Everything is fine. 

"Goddamit, David, I already told you nothing! Nothings wrong! Can you stop being annoying for three seconds and listen for once? God this was such a bad idea!" Max yelled. With that, he slammed the flip phone shut and put one hand over his face, fingers trembling. 

He was alone. 

The flip phone clattered to the floor by his bed. 

* * *

Once the boy hung up, David sat back in his chair on his balcony, eyes still watching the bustling street below. He had no idea where Max was and couldn't drive to check up on him. But something was wrong. 

The boy's voice had sounded muffled and strained, unlike his normally easy-going and nonchalant tone. 

David didn't know what else to do. He supposed he could call Gwen and ask her to go back to the camp grounds to check the intake paperwork, but that was surely beyond his legal powers. 

Yet he couldn't shake the worry out of his mind. Max was loud and rude to begin with, but this was something else. He said he was lonely and hungry. 

David already suspected neglect from the incident at parents day. That had been the whole reason David had given Max his personal cell, something he never would have dreamed of doing for another camper. But Max was special, a kid that, no matter how annoying he could get, would always be on David's mind. And now the kid was alone, tired, and hungry. 

David unlocked his phone once more and made the call he knew he should have long, long ago but never found the courage to do himself. 

"Hello, this is Child Protective Services. How may we help you today?" 


	3. An Unexpected Visit

His parents were home when there was a knock on the door. Max was sitting on the floor in the corner of the living room with a piece of paper out on the floor, the stub of a pencil in his hands as he traced the outline of a drawing on the ivory page. He wasn't sure what the landscape was turning into, but his pencil drew on its own, eventually revealing a few pine trees and the front of an all-too familiar cabin. 

Max's father initially ignored the knock, the little 32-inch tv blaring something loud and violent, almost masking the sound at the door. Max's mother was in the other room, probably sleeping off whatever substance she had gotten herself into the night before. 

Yet, the knock came again, ever persistent and Max felt his heart drop in his chest. 

"Didn't you read the damn sign. No soliciting," his father mumbled to himself, pushing his massive bulk out of the chair and walking over to the door. 

But when it swung open, it wasn't girl scouts (bless their sugar-coma inducing cookies) or a Jehovahs witness (curse their insistence that they were going to hell and needed to find God, whoever that might be). No, this time, it was something much worse. 

"Hello, is this the residence of Theodor Patel? My name is Shelby and I am from the CPS."

Shit. 

Shitshitshitshitshit. 

This was bad. This was really bad. Max didn't react, just taking his pencil nub and shoving it in his pocket, folding the little drawing of Camp Campbell wordlessly. 

In the flip of an instant, Max's father went from hot anger to cool and calculating. This change, this ability to disguise himself as a calm and able person, was the scariest thing that Theodor Patel was able to do. It was times like this, times when his father whispered instead of raising his voice, that Max knew he was truly in trouble. 

"How may I help you?" Theodor said. 

"We received a call requesting us to check up on this residence. If you wouldn't mind us have a quick look around, that would be great," the cheery woman said, something dark behind her smile. This wasn't someone you should mess with, Max decided. And obviously, his father came to the same conclusion, because he stepped aside, letting the woman pass through their little double wide. 

She didn't speak as she poked around the kitchen, opening the door to the empty pantry, shuffling through the expired milk and butter in the fridge. She frowned at the puddle of brown gooey green been juice still on the floor from the other day, making a little note on her clipboard. 

"There isn't a lot of food here," she said. Max opened his mouth but before he could say anything, his father stepped in. 

"I work full time. It's hard for me to get to the store." 

Shelby took another note on her clipboard before turning to Max. 

"If you wouldn't mind, I would like to speak to you alone, Max," the woman said. 

Max shook his head, glancing over to his father. Theodor had a dark expression on his face and he gave a single, curt nod. 

This was a warning, a note to Max that if he spoke, if he even stepped out of line, this would not end well for him. 

Goddamnit. 

Max led the woman to his room, opening the door to the little space and allowing her entrance. The room was barren, the only furniture a small twin size bed pushed into the corner. The sheets were blue, the same shade as Max's all too familiar jacket. The most striking thing about the room were the penciled drawings, each on a single sheet of eight and a half by eleven printer paper. There were hundreds of them, each taped side by side over the walls. 

"Did you do all of these?" the woman asked with a smile. 

Max just nodded, standing in the corner with his arms crossed. 

"What do you want, lady?" he asked her after a few moments of silence. She was staring at a picture of a cat that Max had drawn at Camp Campbell last summer. 

"I want to talk about things," she said slowly, with a little smile on her face. "How is everything at home?" 

Max shrugs. "Well you're here, aren't you? You can see for yourself." 

"Do you feel safe here?" she asked him. 

Damn straight to the point. 

Max nods. It wasn't half a lie. It's not like he was ever hurt enough to die. Just enough to be sore for a few days. Nothing was out of the ordinary here, he told himself. Just act like everything is fine so she can go away. 

"What about food? Do you get enough of that?" 

"Sort of," Max said reluctantly. It was hard to lie about something that was so obvious. "Lately, it's been hard but I know my dad will go to the store eventually." 

"Your mom doesn't go?" she asked. 

God, this woman was very good at her job. 

"She spends most of her time asleep. She's... sick," he said, stumbling over his words. The lie was obviously not convincing enough because she wrote another few words on her clipboard. 

"Well, Max... There are a lot of things I see here that I don't like. But if you say you feel safe, then I have no reason to remove you from home. Are you sure this is okay?" 

Max's heart thumped rapidly in his chest. This was his chance. This was his chance. 

But he could not take it. 

He had made a promise all those years ago, and he would not go back on that promise now. Not ever. 

"I'm... good," Max said. 

"Well, thank you for being open and honest with me, Max. I'm going to go speak with your father now and then I'll be on my way." 

With that, Shelby was gone and Max was alone in his room once more, heart thudding in his chest. 


End file.
